"Impossible!!"
"That was Etherion! It's designed to erase everything in its path!"
"How... what did you do?!"
Jellal screamed at Kael, his face a mask of ferocity. He had spent eight long, grueling years building the Tower of Heaven. He had spent countless hours climbing the political ladder of the magical world, finally securing a seat on the Council.
He had sacrificed everything for this exact moment. But just as he was ready to claim his prize, Etherion had vanished. Eight years of meticulous planning had collapsed in the final second. Jellal's mind was fraying at the seams.
Kael looked at Jellal and offered a calm, steady smile. "I already told you. I warped it away."
"You warped it?! You bastard!!"
Jellal's expression turned hideous. He had meticulously studied all of Kael's data. He thought he was prepared for every possibility. He knew about the Murciélago form, the Sword God, the Flame Emperor, the Tyrant, and Whitebeard. He had analyzed every transformation Kael had ever shown.
The white-haired man from earlier had surprised him, but he'd expected Kael to have a few hidden forms. However, he had never seen this yellow-haired one. The fact that this form mastered instantaneous teleportation was a catastrophic oversight.
Still, Jellal forced himself to calm down. Things weren't completely hopeless. The Tower of Heaven was still standing. He just had to kill Kael, then charm those fools on the Council into firing Etherion a second time.
Taking a deep breath, Jellal regained his composure.
"I underestimated you, Kael. You truly are the man who defeated a Wizard Saint. To teleport Etherion itself... it's an incredible feat. However, warping something that massive across such a distance must have drained you. Between that, the guards, and the Trinity Raven, how much magic could you possibly have left?"
"Kael?"
Erza looked at him, her eyes filled with worry.
Kael nodded, his smile never wavering. "It took a decent chunk, sure. But I've got more than enough left to finish you."
"Finish me?! If you were at full strength, I might be concerned. But now? In your weakened state? You think you can take me? It's your turn to fall, Kael!"
"Hmph! Don't talk big, Jellal!" Erza shouted, stepping forward. "You couldn't even defeat me earlier. To think you could touch Kael is nothing but a delusion!"
Suddenly, a voice whispered right beside Erza's ear.
"Is it really a delusion?"
Erza spun around, her heart skipping a beat. A man dressed in white robes—a man who looked identical to Jellal—stood behind her.
"Siegrain?!"
Erza's eyes widened. This was Siegrain, one of the most powerful members of the Magic Council.
"Wh... what are you doing here?!"
Siegrain smiled, his tone almost nostalgic. "Erza, you remind me of the day we first met. Do you remember? When you arrived at ERA for your trial, and I spoke to you outside. You mistook me for Jellal and attacked me right then and there. I couldn't blame you, of course. We are twins, after all. You only stopped once you realized the truth, but you've always looked at me with such hostility."
"Of course I have! You're his brother! You sat on the Council and watched his atrocities without doing a single thing! You've been monitoring me this whole time!"
"That's true. Perhaps I should have told you I'd find him and kill him myself. But meeting you again after joining the Council... that was my greatest miscalculation. There's no point in making excuses for the pain I've caused."
Erza's face grew pale. "I knew it... you were working together. That's how he knew about Etherion. You orchestrated the strike from the inside!"
Kael sighed, shaking his head at Erza's logic. "Erza, where did your usual intuition go? Honestly, you're acting like a foolish woman right now."
"What do you mean?" Erza asked, looking at him in confusion.
"They aren't 'working together.' They're the same person."
"What did you say?!"
Erza froze. She slowly turned her head back toward the two men.
Siegrain walked toward Jellal, their movements synchronized.
"As expected of Kael. Nothing stays hidden from you. You're much sharper than this poor, confused girl."
As he spoke, Siegrain's body began to shimmer and dissolve, merging into Jellal's form.
"A Thought Projection?!"
Erza gasped. She finally understood the trick.
"Exactly," Jellal said, his voice now sounding much deeper and more resonant. "Siegrain was just a piece of me. Because I had to maintain the projection across the continent, I was forced to split my magic power. That's why I had to play those games with you earlier—I was at a disadvantage. You really were too easy to trick, Erza. You're so cute when you're being gullible; I almost felt bad about it."
"How many people have you lied to?! How many lives have you ruined?!"
Erza screamed at him, her voice cracking. She couldn't fathom a man who could treat betrayal so casually. Did he have no soul at all?
Jellal flexed his fingers, a dark, suffocating aura beginning to radiate from his body. "Hehe... my power has returned. Now, it's time to prepare the sacrifice for Zeref's resurrection."
Jellal's gaze didn't fall on Erza. It was fixed entirely on Kael.
Erza noticed the shift immediately. "Sacrifice? But wait..."
She had assumed the sacrifice Jellal needed was her. That's what Sho and the others had been told. But Jellal wasn't looking at the "bait" anymore.
"That's right! Be honored, Kael. You are the sacrifice personally chosen for Lord Zeref. Erza was never the goal—she was just the lure to bring a wizard of your caliber here."
"Jellal—!!"
Erza stared at him, tears finally spilling over. She couldn't believe how much a person could change. The kind, gentle boy she once knew had been replaced by a monster built on lies and calculations. Was everything she remembered just a fabrication?
Suddenly, a warm finger reached out and wiped a tear from her cheek.
"Don't cry," Kael whispered. "You're already beautiful as you are. If you keep crying, you'll just get even cuter, and I'm not exactly a saint. You're testing my self-control here."
"Kael..."
A faint blush crept onto Erza's face. She didn't expect him to be making jokes at a time like this, but his calm demeanor acted like an anchor, steadying her heart.
"Alright," Kael said, his expression hardening as he turned toward Jellal. "The next part is going to get a little messy. It might be hard to watch. Do you want to stay, or would you rather go back to the others?"
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